Hello, dear reader! Here at my blog you will find glimpses of joy, Stockholm, my numerous museum visits, funny and serious stuff worth noticing - all in journalese and sometimes in Swedish. With this also comes a pinch of analyses and reflections. This is a dynamic blog, meaning I sometimes go back in the archive and update the posts. If you are following my blog from a phone, click on "View web version" at the bottom of the page - it facilitates the reading. Enjoy! /Jana :)

Sunday, 24 January 2016

Museum Mission: Åbergs museum

S. and I decided to cross the champ and a small river (with no bridge, not the spot we were at) to get to this museum that is situated in Bålsta, but can be found on the map of museums in Stockholm. Skokloster castle is also in the "area", but many kilometres in the other direction.

It started off well, with cows. We just missed the entrance because we came from the least common direction.

The good thing is that you can listen to the audioguide through your own smartphone (and from home!).

Lasse Åberg, a Swedish artist and actor, has himself met some of the cartoonists who's work is displayed in the museum. He himself lives nearby in a small house and has done so for a long time - quite unusual in a time when people move around a lot.

Awesome paint.

I am not a dedicated cartoon reader - but S. is. She decided not to do any research on the museum before we went, and could yet be my guide.

Cartoons are easy to read - in fact, too quick for me. But that is part of the point.

Have you heard of bronies, by the way? If not, do google it.

Picasso could have been a great cartoonist! Some predict retrospectively. Yes, this IS in fact a cartoon stripe by him!

Pinocchio being saved.

I learned that a main "story" can be owned by one person - a company - like Walt Disney's "Ducktales", but different cartoonists can be making stories up or just being responsible for the visual part. One guy first used to draw sketches of models for runways before becoming a cartoonist - which makes the people he draws quite expressionless.

And the visual part not only tells us a plot and its details but has to guide the eye with the right size and space of the boxes, and the right amount of ink so that events are easy to follow in the right order.

Behind each name, there is a vast story of style and reason. Don Rosa and Carl Barks to name a few. And did you know that Bud Grace, who created 'Ernie', started out as a nuclear physicist? His style is unusual in the sense that he starts off by drawing the sulhuette of his characters, and a rule of thumb is that a cartoon character always should be recognised by their sulhuettes in particular.

Exhibition is for both kids and adults.

WHAM!

Will Eisner is another example of such a name, with for his time a unique style. The Eisner prize is something a prominent cartoonist can get.

Not the least, the material choice of the museum's walls is very pleasant. Wood alternates what I think is concrete, giving this place a soothing sound.